Catullus 8

In this poem, Catullus is basically writing a letter to himself. This letter is taking place after Lesbia cheated on Catullus and crushed him. It is sort of like the last stage(s) of the 5 stages of Catullus's grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.
In a previous poem, the denial part came. In that poem (72), Catullus decided that after Lesbia cheated, he would love her more, but respect her less. He actually thought it would be that easy. Then in poem 85, Catullus says, "I love and I hate" - the anger. The anger continues in this poem 8, he yells at himself to snap out of it! He says, "Misreble Catullus, stop being a fool!" He had originally bargained - said that if he loved her more passionately then she might remember why she first fell in love with him.
This poem, I think, is specifically about depression and acceptance...and determination also thrown in there. He says, "...consider that which you see to be destroyed to be dead" (this meaning his relationship with Lesbia). I think this poem, like I've said about many other of Catullus's poems, are easy for high school-aged young adults to relate to. Everyone has been through break-ups, and in the end, after the sadness and frustration, you just want to come out stronger. For the first half of the poem, he talks of how he's going to miss the goodtimes, but he now realizes that she was never really fully enjoying herself in the relationship. Later in the poem, though, he realizes that no matter how strong he can claim to be, Lesbia is still going to move on; at the end of the day, she is still going to bite someone elses lip, kiss someone else, love someone, belong to someone else. I think that's why break-ups are the hardest - because no matter what, you know they'll always find someone else...and that you'll be replaced by someone new. And you may ask yourself what that other person has that you didn't have. It's difficult, but just as Catullus reminds himself at the end of the poem, you have to accept it and be strong.